


This Year's Present

by slamncram (GettheSalt)



Category: Thor (Comics)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Home for Christmas, Innuendo, Inspired by Folgers "Home for the Holidays" Commercial, Long-Suffering Balder, M/M, POV Outsider, Sibling Incest, loki is a little shit, thor just wants everyone to get along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 03:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17072366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettheSalt/pseuds/slamncram
Summary: Balder knows that the relationship between his brothers is far from the norm. With everyone getting together for the holidays, he knows he's going to have to confront it.Or... Maybe not.





	This Year's Present

**Author's Note:**

> I think this fic goes without saying, and I'm _sure_ this cannot be the only one of its kind, _but_! I had to. So I did.

The snow came down heavy outside, making the light coming into his old bedroom bright and grey, and between that and the warmth under the blankets he’d piled on his bed, Balder didn’t want to get up.

It wasn’t quite Christmas yet, and that meant that their father was still needed at his office. Their mother had knocked on his door just a hour ago, and let him know that she was running out to get some supplies she needed for holiday baking. When he’d started to get up out of bed, she’d waved him off, and that would have been okay, if she hadn’t explained why.

Because she wanted him to rest after his flight in? That would have been fine.

Because there was a secret to her baking that he’d figure out if he was along? Also just fine.

Because she simply wanted to be alone, dodging the other holiday shoppers without worrying about keeping tabs on one of her sons, even if he was a grown man? Just dandy.

But, because Thor was due to arrive soon and she thought it would be good if the three of them – Balder, his younger brother Thor, and their youngest, adopted brother Loki – got a chance to hang out and catch up alone for a bit?

That one left Balder laying flat on his back in bed, alternating between eying his phone screen and staring at the ceiling, wondering what he’d done to deserve being left alone with those two when Thor got here.

Likely, he hadn’t done anything. Their parents just chose to ignore all the warning signs.

Though, for Balder, at this point, they weren’t warning signs.

He loved his brothers, he did.

It wasn’t that he didn’t and, all things considered, he didn’t really care what it was they did. They’d lived together from when Loki was the age of eight, until when Balder was eighteen – so, approximately five years. They’d acted like brothers, down to wrestling each other for the last of mum’s homemade cookies, all the way to having each other’s backs in a fight against anyone who wasn’t family, no matter who started it.

It was just that things had changed, somewhere around when Loki had turned eighteen, and ended up at the same University that Thor had been studying Astronomy at.

That was when things had gotten... weird.

Balder visited once, in Loki’s second year, and Thor’s final. Between the fact that Loki always seemed to be in Thor’s room, and that he’d watched them together in Thor’s car when they’d all been leaving dinner, he’d figured something out.

His brothers were... together.

Normally, that would have been something that Balder confronted them about. Instead, he’d gone back home, back to work, and agonized over it for a week.

And in the end, he’d decided to leave it alone. They were adults. They could make their own decisions.

Or mistakes.

It was just that, sometimes, like family holidays for instance, Balder felt like he was going to die under the weight of keeping a secret he was sure everyone else knew.

But he would be _damned_ if he would be the one to draw attention to the elephant in the room and ruin Christmas.

The sound of the front door broke him out of his thoughts, and Balder hauled himself up out of his old bed without stopping to think about it, standing up and looking out the window that looked out the front of the house. The taxi pulling away from the house was sunny and bright against the snow piled on the ground and coming down from the sky. There was an airplane emblazoned on its side, leaving no doubt about where it had come from.

Not that Balder had any doubts from where it had come. Or who it had delivered.

Not with the hurried sound of Loki’s characteristically light footsteps thumping down the stairs, and then the surprised warmth of Thor’s laugh.

It was time to get up.

The sooner Balder got down there, the less chance there would be that he would be walking in on something he really, really didn’t want to see.

With a sigh, he looked into the mirror mounted on the wall over his old dresser, adjusting his shaggy brown hair, and trying to school his face into something that didn’t look like he was expecting the worst.

Then he put his feet in his slippers, took a breath, and opened the door.

Voices were already floating up from the kitchen as he made his way to the stairs, not trying to be quiet, but not announcing his presence either.

“You went for the coffee quick. Long flight?”

“Not from Tromso, but the snow slowed everything down a little.”

“Mm. I nearly stayed up all night waiting for you. Nearly.”

Balder tried not to wince.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” Thor’s response came as Balder was stepping off the last stair, his voice dipping lower into a tone Balder _knew_ he should have taken as a warning. “If you can keep quiet, you may be staying up all night tonight.”

Balder stopped dead, just feet away from rounding into the kitchen.

_Why. Why?_

He didn’t hear Loki’s response, but he did hear his laugh, that telltale _little shit_ laugh that always made Balder worry that something was on fire or he was about to walk into a trap. Clearly it didn’t have the same warning qualities on Thor.

“I brought you something.”

That sounded less concerning, and Balder let out a slow breath, inching forward again tentatively. If this didn’t go hard in another direction, he would be safe to make his entrance.

“Christmas isn’t for three more days.”

“Well, it’s a surprise. Just for you.”

Suddenly, Balder didn’t want Loki to get the chance to unwrap something potentially questionable in their mother’s kitchen. Sliding his hands into his pajama pant pockets, he strode forward, around the corner into the kitchen, the picture of nonchalance.

As he did, Loki pressed the green gift bow that Balder presumed had been on the little giftbox in his hand onto Thor’s chest, right over where his heart was.

“You’re my present this year.”

This was almost a sweet moment.

All the more reason for Balder to ruin it. He cleared his throat.

The reaction from his brothers was almost comical. Loki, perched on the countertop, flinched and looked over sharply. Thor straightened, his right hand moving from Loki’s knee to the edge of the counter behind him. Balder watched in slow motion while Thor processed, clearly trying to work out what Balder may have heard with a look of mild panic in his eyes, while Loki smirked, confirming once and for all that he knew Balder knew and he didn’t _care_.

“Brother!” Thor boomed, finally, walking over with his arms held wide in a hug. “Happy Christmas!”

“Happy Christmas to you, too, Thor,” Balder greeted, hugging Thor back, keeping his eyes off Loki, who he knew was still smirking.

Clearly Loki wasn’t going to stand for that.

“Nice of you to join us, _brother_.” He said, from his perch. Balder looked over without thinking, catching sight of Loki raising the coffee pot, the red tin of instant coffee next to his thigh. “Coffee?”

It was going to be a long week.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to AndLatitude for beta-ing, thank you to YOU for reading, and happy holidays!


End file.
